The purpose of this course is to review the material covered in the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam to enable the student to pass it. It will be presented in modules corresponding to the FE topics, particularly those in Civil and Mechanical Engineering. Each module will review main concepts, illustrate them with examples, and provide extensive practice problems.

From the lesson

Structural Analysis

This module reviews basic principles of the structural analysis of trusses and beams. It builds on material covered in Statics (Module 6) and Mechanics of Materials (Module 8). We first review the conditions for static equilibrium, then apply them to simple trusses and beams. We then consider the deflections of beams under various types of loadings and supports. We derive the differential equations that govern the deflected shapes of beams and present their boundary conditions. We show how to solve the equations for a particular case and present other solutions. The method of superposition and its application to predicting beam deflection and slope under more complex loadings is then discussed. Finally the conditions for static determinacy and indeterminacy are presented along with example applications to trusses and beams. In all cases, basic ideas and equations are presented along with sample problems that illustrate the major ideas and provide practice on expected exam questions.Time: Approximately 2.5 hours | Difficulty Level: Medium